Alumni Years at CSDR and CSDB/F for Education and Employment
In 2002, the alumni employees from all departments met for a group picture near the dining hall. Billy “Rusty Wales, ‘63, broke the glass ceiling with his hiring for employment on campus as the first alumnus in Fall 1967. Alumni employees can be especially valuable to any Deaf school because they understand the unique culture, language, traditions, and experiences of the Deaf community. They inspire the youth of the same ilk to reach their potential. Below are the retired
Jun 129 min read
The Second Tallest Student Ever at CSDR
Older alumni and retirees remember Edward Dudley, ’71, for his amazing height. His height record will probably stand forever at CSDR. His height was 7’0”. His weight was 300 pounds. Edward arrived at CSDR in 1958 and stayed until his graduation in 1971. He died around 2024. He said he had not grown any taller after he left CSDR, but his weight increased to 350 pounds. At left is Edward Dudley, ’71, with his height of 7’ 0“. At right are his three classmates for height compari
Jun 72 min read
A Fire in the Dorm in the 1960s
In 2026, CSDR has been around for 73 years to serve and educate some 4,000 students altogether. After digging around long-time staff to see if we ever had a fire on campus, the answer is yes. The horse mouth for the affirmation is Thomas Langdale, a dorm counselor. Tom was very hard-of -hearing (from the Deaf perspective) and wore hearing aids to function fairly well in the hearing world. Tom joined the residence hall staff in 1966 and worked for 13 years until 1979 when h
Jun 22 min read
Things Have Come and Gone at CSDR
CSDR will celebrate its platinum anniversary (75th) anniversary in 2028. If today’s students go back to the 1950s and the 1960s to observe what we had on campus. They would not recognize familiar objects the oldtimers enjoyed. The following examples of object transformed by time or simply disappeared. This is a black rotary telephone from the 1950s. It now sits on the Superintendent’s desk in the school museum. With a rotary phone, it was necessary to make a circular mov
Jun 18 min read
CSDR’s Largest Enrollment Record at 615 in 1969
Background The 1964–1969 rubella epidemic was the primary precursor for enlarging the Deaf community. “German measles” is another name for rubella. The disease is mild for children and adults, but it can severely harm unborn babies when the disease afflicts the pregnant mothers. As a result of the rubella epidemic, the large number of these children were born deaf. The estimate is 20,000. Many also had vision problems, heart defects, developmental disabilities or multiple
May 253 min read
The Long Delayed Demolition Finally Proceeded at DMHU
The alumni and retirees kept asking me what held up the demolition of the old modular first for the DMHU (Deaf Multi-Handicapped Unit - the old name for today’s Alternative Curriculum Education) in the 1970s and then the Middle School in the 1990s. The campus museum was the last department to move out of the complex in 2022 for a new home in the former high school homemaking classroom. To dig around for some details, I learned that $7 million has been allocated for demolitio
May 222 min read
The Fourth and Current Gym
In 1953, the brand-new school began with a small two-room gymnasium next to the old, small swimming pool. Below the track field is the L-shaped buildings that housed the locker rooms, the athletic director's office and the two-room gymnastics. The empty swimming pool is on the left. The open space on the right where the main gym was constructed later in 1959. With the construction budget to build the whole school for merely $7 million from 1951 to 1958. Unfortunately, th
May 96 min read
